Whitehouse Weekly Bulletin 133

Friday 18th September 2020

Message from Mrs Hall

I wanted to take this opportunity to thank everyone for their continued support during these challenging times. We are all continually working out new ways to adapt to living with coronavirus and I have been overwhelmed by the support received from our school community. It is so important that we all continue to work together to ensure the children have the very best education that they deserve. The teachers have made lots of phone calls to parents/carers this week to check how well the children have settled and to answer any queries. If you missed a phone call and you would like someone to phone back, please email parents@whcps.org and we will be in contact.

Attendance for the Previous Week

Class with the Best Attendance – Hedgehogs (100%)

Class that needs to improve their Attendance – Dragons (83.3%)

Classes that need to improve their Punctuality – Rabbits and Squirrels

Assemblies

The theme of our assemblies for next will be: International Day of Democracy: School Parliament, what do they do? Resources related to this assembly will soon be available on our website. To access them, simply go to Learning and click on our Enquiry Based Assemblies.

IMPORTANT: Deadline

A reminder that TODAY is the deadline to give consent for your child to receive the flu immunisation on Monday 7th December. Consent must be given online. Please go to the following link and click on ‘here’ which will take you to the correct page: https://www.whcps.org/14-09-2020-fluimmunisation/. If you have any concerns about the immunisation or would like to discuss it further you can contact the Nursing Team on 0300 555 5055 or by email at ccs-tr.suffolkimmsteam@nhs.net.

School Photos

A reminder that we have our School Photos on Monday. Please note there will be no PE lessons that day so please send your child to school in their uniform, so they are looking nice and smart.

Thank you.

Key Stage 1:

Lower Key Stage 2:

Upper Key Stage 2:

Payments

Can we remind parents/carers that due to the current circumstances we are unable to take money in school. We would encourage where possible that payment is made online using either a debit or credit card, through Suffolk County Council using the following links:

Dinner Money: https://www.suffolk.gov.uk/children-families-and-learning/schools/school-meals-uniforms-andtrips/school-meals/. Please note you will be asked which days your child will be eating a school dinner. You can enter any dates as we do not use this information, but will continue to ask your child each day what they would like for lunch. There is a minimum payment of £11.50 which is the price of five school meals.

Breakfast Club: https://www.suffolk.gov.uk/children-families-and-learning/schools/school-meals-uniforms-andtrips/pay-for-a-school-trip/ Where online payment is not possible we are able to accept a cheque which should be made payable to Suffolk County Council.

Thank you!

Can we say a big thank you to parents/carers for their co-operation in wearing face coverings whilst on the school site. This is a great help to ensure we can all keep safe. You may have noticed that all staff who are out on duty will be wearing face shields, so that children and parents/carers can still see their faces and also to assist communication with anyone who may need to lip read.

Absence from School

It is that time of year when lots of staff and children are coming down with colds and some parents/carers are concerned as whether to send children into school or not. Please note if your child is feeling well enough and has a cold they are still able to attend school. However, according to NHS England, if your child has any of the following symptoms, please do contact 111 for advice and try to order a test if advised to:

A high temperature

A new, continuous cough (this means coughing a lot for more than an hour, or three or more coughing episodes in 24 hours)

A loss or change to the sense of smell or taste

Library Visits

We know how much the children love to visit the school libraries and be able to choose their next book to read. Sadly, due to the current circumstances the children are not able to go to the library as often as usual however we are allowing each child to choose 2 or 3 books at a time so they will still have plenty to read and enjoy.

Library Reading Photographs

Before the summer break we held a competition to get some pictures of children reading to put up on our library walls. A big thank you to Callum, Seth and Maddie for their lovely photos. These will be placed on the walls in the Key Stage 1 library and they will each win a book as their prize.

Back to School, Back to Health Campaign

OneLife Suffolk have begun a campaign to encourage us all to eat well, move more, sleep better and connect with our family and friends (within current Government guidelines). They have set ten challenges which can be done in any order and completed over the next five weeks. After each challenge is completed you can call them on 01473 718193 or fill in an online form on their website and you will then receive a sticker. For anyone who completes all ten challenges they will be entered into a prize draw to win a Fitbit for each member in the family. Why not give it a go with your family? You can find more information at the following link: https://onelifesuffolk.co.uk/backtoschoolbacktohealth/.

Girls Football Taster Session

Norwich City Football Club are offering a chance for local girls aged 6-16 a chance to join them for an Open Training Session on Tuesday 22nd September at Whitton Sports Center. It is free of charge and an excellent opportunity to receive some coaching and learn more about their training programme. If you are interested please contact jack.rayner@canaries.co.uk.

School Award: Unicef Rights Respecting School

At Whitehouse we are committed to continuously improving our provision to enable all of our children to develop into happy, caring, responsible and pro-active citizens ready to make a positive contribution to society. With this in mind, the school has recently applied to become a UNICEF Rights Respecting School and we are currently working toward the bronze award. This involves raising awareness among our whole school community of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child and from next week all school assemblies will be linked to this document. The process also involves surveying staff, pupils, parents and governors to identify our starting point. We will then recruit a committee made up of children from all year groups whose job will be to ensure that children’s rights are at the heart of everything we do at Whitehouse. We have already begun talking to the children about the award and have been very impressed by the maturity of their answers. Can we please ask for your help by filling in our questionnaire at the following link: https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/XNFXNKV. Thank you for your help and continued support.

Pupil Voice

We endeavour to provide opportunities at Whitehouse for pupils to develop life skills such as teamwork, communication and leadership by representing their peers in a number of bodies (School Parliament, TOAST team, School Prefects, House Captains and Sports Prefects). This year children will also be able to join the Eco Committee and the Rights Respecting School Committees. Please keep an eye open for the adverts and encourage your child to consider those opportunities.

Dates for the Diary

Monday 21st September – School Photos (All children to wear school uniform)

Monday 21st September – Year 1 Local Walk – Giraffes Class

Tuesday 22nd September – Year 1 Local Walk – Lions Class

Wednesday 23rd September – Year 1 Local Walk – Elephants Class

Monday 26th October – Friday 30th October – Half Term Holiday

Monday 2nd November – PD Day (No school for children)

Friday 13th November – Children in Need

Thursday 19th November – Parent/Carer Evening

Wednesday 25th November – Parent/Carer Evening

Friday 27th November – Whole School SMSC Event

Monday 7th December – Flu Immunisations

Monday 21st December – Friday 1st January – Christmas Holiday

Monday 4th January – PD Day (No school for children)

Friday 12th February – PD Day (No school for children)

Monday 15th February – Friday 19th February – Half Term Holiday

Thursday 4th March – Parent/Carer Evening

Wednesday 10th March – Parent/Carer Evening

Friday 19th March – Whole School SMSC Event

Monday 29th March – Friday 9th April – Easter Holiday